<p>I have read that some parents pay the tuition with a credit card - and then quickly pay off the credit card - in order to get points, credits, travel miles, etc. </p>
<p>If you do this, or are aware of how it works, can you provide me with any general information? </p>
<p>What Credit Card company have you used, or do you currently use? </p>
<p>What benefits do you receive (points, travel miles, lodging, store credit, other)? </p>
<p>Is there a limt to how much you can charge?</p>
<p>(In case it matters, we have excellent credit, and would be easily approved for a new card).</p>
<p>I am considering this method, for the extra benefits. Just trying to find out if there are any "gotchas", or problems that can occur.</p>
<p>The question really should be, "which colleges accept credit card payment?" I believe that several colleges don't accept it, as there is a fee involved for the school. Some schools will take a cc payment but then tack on an additional fee, which could be 0.5%. </p>
<p>We use our credit card for everything and every place that accepts it. It is a Mastercard with airline mileage, and we have travelled to amazing countries on the accumulated miles. The only limits are your credit limit with the cc company.</p>
<p>However, our township charges a huge fee if a cc is used for property tax payment, and our D's school does not accept cc payments. So, the next vacation will not be happening too soon.</p>
<p>I pay my D's tuition with an Alaska Airlines credit card. I pay the whole amount ($3,000+ per semester) and then pay it off when the bill comes. There is no extra fee from the college. I get one mile for each dollar spent.</p>
<p>I just double-checked & my son's school does NOT charge any fees for credit card charges. We have an AmEx cash rewards credit card that allows us to get up to 1.5% back on all charges made on the credit card. There are cards which give hotel points, airline miles, and many other benefits. It is important, as everyone said, to find out whether there is any fees for credit card charges & determine whether the benefit outweighs the fees or not.
We pay the balance off in full every month, so we never have any finance or interest charges. We get a nice cash check every year from all our purchases. We have other cash rewards credit cards as well, all of which give us $$ back (some give 3% on dining, 2% on travel, 5% of drugstores, grocery stores & gas). WIth the money, we can choose what we want to spend it on.</p>
<p>Wow... what a thought.... paying tuition with a credit card to get mileage. Oh course it is only worth it if the school doesn't tack on a fee and the parents remember to immediately pay it off.</p>
<p>We've done this for the past three years with my daughters college and it looks like we will be able to do this with our son's as well. We're using a capital one card that has no annual fee and anywhere miles. </p>
<p>My neighbor cautioned me that they tried to do this with one of their kids colleges but found that it was billed as a credit advance and not a purchase so not only did they not get the free miles but they would have been charged a high interest rate if they didn't pay it on time.</p>
<p>Both of my kids' colleges charge a ridiculous percentage for paying tuition with a credit card, more than 3%. When I applied the 2.5-cent rule (most economists say that miles should be valued at from 2.5 to 4 cents each), it just didn't make sense. (I just checked the web site for one college, and they no longer accept cards at all.)</p>
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When I applied the 2.5-cent rule (most economists say that miles should be valued at from 2.5 to 4 cents each),
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<p>You may want to update your numbers. Unless you score a business class ticket overseas, the current value of a mile is about $0.05. Some gift cards may be worth a penny!</p>
<p>As a fairness issue, I side with the colleges who don't take cards for free. The money for the card fee (which pays for the mileage points) must come from somewhere...</p>
<p>NewMassDad--how do you get 5 cents/mile? I haven't heard that. It now takes 25K miles to go anywhere, so a cross country trip--the most expensive--would be $1250 at 5 cents/mile and $2000 for first class. In reality, you can fly any route for around $300 max these days. </p>
<p>OTOH, we recently "spent" 160K miles to send my DH first class British AIr to Europe--which would have been about $8K if we'd paid real money--but which cost exactly that at your 5 cents/mile. However, my son's ticket on the same route (back in peasant class) was 65K miles--but would have been $900 if we'd paid cash, or 1.4 cents/mile.</p>
<p>I just checked with the college my son will be attending, and they don't accept credit cards. With the tacked on fee the college would have to pay, I understand why they don't, but it's a great tip for those of you who have colleges that accept cc as payment.</p>
<p>"Unless you score a business class ticket overseas".....</p>
<p>And good luck doing that. We tried waaay in advance to book seats over a three week period on USAir for this summer and have had no luck finding a flight with FF seats available in business. They are perfectly willing for us to buy coach seats and use miles to "bump up"....but even then they only designate a few seats for that possiblity before day of travel. Frequent Flyer ain't what it used to be.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has an affiliation with Tuition Management Services <a href="https://www.afford.com/index.aspx?di=35dn5t55hgtbh2uawtv4l1ue%5B/url%5D">https://www.afford.com/index.aspx?di=35dn5t55hgtbh2uawtv4l1ue</a> - pretend like you're enrolling and you can check and see if your school is affiliated and what the fee is (for CMU it's a $55 flat fee). The payments can be spread over 8 or 10 months for freshmen. We're going to use that program, possibly with a HHonors affiliated card, then we can stay free when we visit! I looked at the cash back cards - it seemed like many if not most had a max rebate of about $300. Considering the amount we'll be charging, we want to make sure the full amount is used for whatever program is affiliated.</p>
<p>For AmEx, the maximum/year you can charge is $50,000. You get .5% for the 1st $6500 & 1.5% for the rest up to $50,000/year charged. (Also, if you charge gas, grocery or drugs, you can get 5% after the 1st $6500.) We're planning to use this card--can you tell?</p>
<p>HIMom, if you really want to charge a lot and get miles for every dollar, look into the Alaska Airlines Platinum card, which allows unlimited $1 = 1 mile charges. We use one for our business expenses and it's great. The miles are good on a wide range of airlines, including NWA and American, both of which fly Hawaii->Mainland, and I've not had problems using the miles (so far). You can't use them for upgrades (except on Alaska), though--only flights.</p>
<p>Thanks for the thought--currently, I like getting $$$, so I can buy what I want, but will keep Alaska Airlines card in mind. I generally don't charge THAT much & $50,000/year should be fine (I have other credit cards where I also get 5% for groceries, drugs & gas). I don't own a business, nor does hubby. The USC bills will be more than we usually charge.</p>
<p>IMHO only use a credit card if there is no additional charge and you can pay it off right away! I am using tuitionpay.com which allows you to spread payments over 11 months with no interest. This makes sense. I checked on our federal taxes and property taxes, both charge a fee if you use a credit card. Recently it has become harder and harder to use mileage on airlines unless you travel on a Tuesday in January so keep that in mind too. the tuitionpay.com is the same-I think-as the CMU service the last poster mentioned. They work with lots of schools. The cost was $60. flat fee, not $55.00 for my DS's school.</p>